You are lucky Kane. Yes you should seriously consider a brewery in your suburbs. I don't know the population but every area needs a local pub to call their own. That's a huge advantage to not have any others to compete with. Go for it.
Great question. I will answer that Sunday but I will omit the Colorado part for your privacy. BTW, I think my way is pretty good. One of our students is selling and asked me to do an appraisal on the business and mine came within 2k of what the pros did. Are you selling the business with the real estate? I usually do a valuation on the business by itself. I can look at yours if you want. My email is tom@coloradoboy.com.
Would you recommend working at a professional brewery before opening up a brewpub? I have tons of restaurant experience and 3+ years of home brewing experience.
How do you feel on opening a brewery in a city without a brewery? I live in a suburbia esque city that is very lacking in the brewery department. Our neighboring city has several breweries and I feel like if the people in my city had a closer spot we could kill it. Am I crazy for thinking opening a brewery in suburbia is a good idea?
Where do I get the money? Or, maybe I need to figure out how to do a business plan? There are a few things I don't quite get, probably because someone hasn't said the exact right thing to me. I like the proper 90's era brewpub model with FOOD, but you often talk about how easy it is to find a restaurant for lease that's gone out of business, but in my area this just isn't a thing. I may be looking at a Nanobrewery with distribution to the local Old Chicago and slowly build up brute-force style from there.
As always, super appreciative that you take the time to share your career and life experiences with all of us. Hope you and your family had a nice vacation.
As for questions/suggestions for an article: I would truly appreciate an article sharing your experiences of purchasing, renovating and setting up your original Colorado Boy Brewery in Ridgway, CO.
In my area, I have not seen many former restaurant properties come up for sale but older/historic properties like your Ridgway building do show up for sale ever so often. This situation seems fairly common in my area on the southeast area of the USA/small towns. I would be interested to learn more about your experience with turning an early 1900’s property into a brewpub. What it was like to purchase it, dealing with city officials and codes, what you had to do regarding older water lines/utilities/sewer etc., weird things that popped up with dealing with an early 1900’s building and now that it’s been in business for well over a decade what maintenance issues have arisen and how they have been dealt with. Basically an article about dealing with a “historic” property for a brewpub.
Great question Scott, and I will answer it in an article. I will say it wasn't too bad because it was a small town and they were super happy to have a brewpub. I still had to go through the hoops, but I've had to go through more in others I've done. I also have a video on the building of it. I'll try to find it.
You are lucky Kane. Yes you should seriously consider a brewery in your suburbs. I don't know the population but every area needs a local pub to call their own. That's a huge advantage to not have any others to compete with. Go for it.
E grandstand.com
Simple. Egrandstand.com
Before I answer just curious what town are you in? I might be able to throw some ideas at you
Great question. I will answer that Sunday but I will omit the Colorado part for your privacy. BTW, I think my way is pretty good. One of our students is selling and asked me to do an appraisal on the business and mine came within 2k of what the pros did. Are you selling the business with the real estate? I usually do a valuation on the business by itself. I can look at yours if you want. My email is tom@coloradoboy.com.
Would you recommend working at a professional brewery before opening up a brewpub? I have tons of restaurant experience and 3+ years of home brewing experience.
How do you feel on opening a brewery in a city without a brewery? I live in a suburbia esque city that is very lacking in the brewery department. Our neighboring city has several breweries and I feel like if the people in my city had a closer spot we could kill it. Am I crazy for thinking opening a brewery in suburbia is a good idea?
This may sound mundane. Could you provide any information on best types a glassware and reputable vendors?
Where do I get the money? Or, maybe I need to figure out how to do a business plan? There are a few things I don't quite get, probably because someone hasn't said the exact right thing to me. I like the proper 90's era brewpub model with FOOD, but you often talk about how easy it is to find a restaurant for lease that's gone out of business, but in my area this just isn't a thing. I may be looking at a Nanobrewery with distribution to the local Old Chicago and slowly build up brute-force style from there.
As always, super appreciative that you take the time to share your career and life experiences with all of us. Hope you and your family had a nice vacation.
As for questions/suggestions for an article: I would truly appreciate an article sharing your experiences of purchasing, renovating and setting up your original Colorado Boy Brewery in Ridgway, CO.
In my area, I have not seen many former restaurant properties come up for sale but older/historic properties like your Ridgway building do show up for sale ever so often. This situation seems fairly common in my area on the southeast area of the USA/small towns. I would be interested to learn more about your experience with turning an early 1900’s property into a brewpub. What it was like to purchase it, dealing with city officials and codes, what you had to do regarding older water lines/utilities/sewer etc., weird things that popped up with dealing with an early 1900’s building and now that it’s been in business for well over a decade what maintenance issues have arisen and how they have been dealt with. Basically an article about dealing with a “historic” property for a brewpub.
Thanks again and hope all is well.
Great question Scott, and I will answer it in an article. I will say it wasn't too bad because it was a small town and they were super happy to have a brewpub. I still had to go through the hoops, but I've had to go through more in others I've done. I also have a video on the building of it. I'll try to find it.
What is your go-to, back of the napkin, valuation multiple on ebita for a brew pub in Colorado?
Assume major qualitative risks are managed and real estate is secured for 10yrs.